The article "Make Homemade Pizza" talks about fitness, it has been created by Jan Kovarik.
Making pizza from scratch, at home, isn't really as hard as you
might think---and once you learn just a couple of secrets aobut how to
make a great pizza crust, you might never want to "order in"
again!
First, there is the matter of a recipe for pizza dough.
Most of them call for very similar ingredients, basically water,
yeast, oil, and flour. Some have a little more oil, some use
less oil and add an egg.
Whichever reicpe you use, making the
pizza dough goes fairly quickly and doesn't need to rise for
hours like bread dough.
Here's a tip: If you aren't familiar with working with recipes
that call for yeast, you might not know that yeast has to
"proof"---that is, activate. You do this by combniing it with
water water (about 110*), and usually a little bit of sugar (1
teaspoon or less). After you combine the yeast, warm water, and
sugar, you need to let this mixture "rest" for about 5 minutes.
This allows the yeast to activate or "proof."
Don't just assmue that you can run hot water from your tap and
it will be "warm" enough, without being "too hot." A small
cooking thermometer is handy to have. It might be easier to heat
up water to 110* rather than run hot water and then try to cool
it down (especially if your wtaer heater is set at 120* or
above). I put room temperature water in a Pyrex measuring cup
and heat the water in the microwave.
After a while, you'll know
exactly what setting and how long it takes to heat up the water.
After the yeast has proofed, stir in the other ingredients,
following the recipe. You'll probably have to knead the dough a
bit to mix all of the flour in, so that you have a smooth and
dry mound of pizza dough. Be very careful about kneading the
pizza dough---it is easy to knead in too much flour. As long as
the dough isn't actually sticking to your fingers, it is OK.
Once the dough is ready, let it "rest" for aobut 5 minutes.
That's right, just let it lay there.
This gets the rising
process started.
Hand form, or use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to the
desired size.
After experimenting with the different types of pizza pans and
stones that are available, I have concluded that the one-ply
pans with hoels in them are the best. This helps to bake a crust
that is nicely done on the bottom without being burnt, and yet
leaves the dough nice a "chewy" in the middle. Depending on your
preference for pizza dough, you can experiment by first baking
pizza on regular cookie sheets. Afetr that you can get
inexpensive pizza pans at dollar stores or discount stores like
Wal-Mart to continue to experiment until you find the pan you
prefer.
Now you're ready to bake the pizza. Here's a tip: pre-bake just
the pizza crust for about 6 minutes before you load on the sauce
and toppings.
This helps to cook the crust enough so that the
sauce won't sink in too much, leaivng a gooey crust.
After you've pre-baked the crust, remove it from the oven and
load it with sauce and meat toppings (be sure that anything
other than pepperoni is pre-cooked, such as sausage or ground
beef). If you like oinons and peppers, then here's a second tip:
pre-cook them so that the onions are almost transparent and the
pepper is limp.
Load on the onions and peppres. Sprinkle on
oregano or any other spices that you desire.
Return to the oven and bake for about 13-15 mintues. This is
long enough to heat the sauce and other toppings.
Remove from the oven and add the cheese. (If you're like me and
like Hawaiian pizza, add the pineapple now, too.) Return to the
oven for aobut 3 minutes, or just long enough to melt the cheese
without burning it.
Once the pizza is baked, I like to slide it onto a pizza stone
that I've sprinkled with cornmeal.
Then, I let the pizza cool
for abuot 5 minutes.
The cornmeal keeps the bottom of the crust
from getting soggy, and sure adds a nice "zest" to the tsate of
it! Cut with a pizza cutter (or kitchen shears---which work
great!).
Enjoy with your favorite beverage!
For an illustrated tutorial on making pizza dough and then
baking the pizza, go to:
http://jansdough.Janktheproofer.Com/Make-Pizza-tutorial.Htm For
a free recipe for Jan's Dough Sourdough Pizza Crust, go to:
http://jansdough.Janktheproofer.Com/Pizza-Crust.
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